938 



SCANDINAVIAN FISHES. 



Scopeltis Kroi/erii, Malm, Forh. Skaud. Naturf. II. Kblivn 180O, 

 p. G17; Vett., Vitt. Samb. Haudl. Gbg., H. 8 (1863), p. 

 100; Gbijs, Boh. Fna, p. 534; SundstrOm, Fna Sveriges 

 Rij(j(jradsdj., p. 2G2 (descr. erron.)- 



The Greater Scopeliis, the larger Scandinavian 

 species, attains a length of aliout 1.5 cm." As the 

 form of the Pearl-side reminds us of the Sprat, so the 

 Greater Scopelus resembles an Anchovy with shortened 

 snout. The body is rather elongated and compressed. 

 The greatest depth, wliich occurs at the ventral tins, 

 though the whole abdominal region is of fairly uni- 

 form depth, measures about ','5 (19 % in the only per- 

 fect specimen we have been able to examine) of the 

 length of the body, and the greatest thickness is about 

 '/5 of the greatest deptli. The dorsal contour descends 

 forward from the beginning of the dorsal tin in a gra- 

 dual curve to the tip of the snout; but the ventral 

 contour is straighter in front. The caudal contours 

 converge at ecjual angles and to such an extent that 

 the least depth of the body (in front of tiic caudal 

 fin) is about * „ (8'9 %) of its length, or about ^j^ 

 (4(V() %) of its greatest depth. In front the dorsal 

 margin is convex, the ventral rather flat; behind they 

 are both about equally compressed, neither being sharp, 

 however, in front of the spine-like supporting rays of 

 the caudal fin. 



The head is middle-sized, its length being '/^ of 

 that of the body; but the greatest part thereof is oc- 

 cupied by the temples (po.sterior cheeks) and opercula. 

 The postorbital part measures about 63 — 66 % of the 

 length of the head, and is of fairly uniform thickness, 

 the sides being almost parallel, liut slightly converging 

 in a downward direction. The forehead is slightly 

 convex, with a median carina between the anterior 

 parts of the eyes and on the snout, the sides of which 

 converge in front almost at a right angle. The eyes, 

 the length of which is someAvhat greater than their 

 height, are of moderate size in proportion .to the length 

 of the body", but large in proportion to that of the 

 snout, which measures at most about ^,'3 of their longi- 

 tudinal diameter. There are, we may almost say, 

 no true cheeks, only a thin and very low suborbital 

 ring separating the orbit from the upper ja^v; but the 

 lower margin of this ring is sharply marked both in 



front and (very shari)iy) behind, and entirely conceals 

 the maxillary throughout the greater part of its length, 

 Avhen the mouth is closed. The orbital margin is also 

 sharply defined and especially ])rominent above, where 

 it rises at the anterior angle to the frontal plane. The 

 slightly convex interorbital space is rather broad, though 

 it becomes narrower in front; at the middle of the eyes 

 it is equal to, or even greater than, their longitudinal 

 diameter. The nostrils on each side of the snout lie 

 on a level with the centre of the eye, just in front of 

 and below the projecting margin of the anterior frontal 

 bone, which forms the anterior orbital margin, and are 

 separated f)nly by a thin dermal septum. The mouth 

 is large, as in the Anchovy, and the horizontal cleft 

 thereof extends throughout the greater ])art of the 

 length of the head, the length of the upper jaw from 

 the tip of the snout being 77 — 79 %, the length of the 

 lower jaw 80 %, of that of the head. The margins of 

 both jaws are straight and without lips. When the 

 mouth is closed, onl}' the narrow intermaxillaries are 

 visible in front, forming the whole margin of the upper 

 jaw, from the very tip of the snout, where their hardly 

 perceptible nasal processes meet the rostral tip of the 

 ethmoid bone. Aljove them lie the maxillaries, which 

 are thin and show comparatively little, though gradual, 

 expansion behind. The latter do not extend quite so 

 far back as the intermaxillaries, a break being thus 

 formed at the hind extremity of the up])er jaw. The 

 lower jaw, which projects as far as the upper, resembles, 

 as a whole, a flat l)oat, when its two branches adjoin 

 to each other beneath. Their lower margins are in- 

 curvated, so that they cover the isthnuis underneath 

 throughout its length, with only a narrow, longitudinal 

 opening between them. The jaw-teeth are small, 

 pointed, and of uniform size; they are set in a dense 

 card, narrow but slightly broader at the anterior ex- 

 tremitv, throughout the margins both of the up]icr 

 jaw (the intermaxillaries) and the lower. They also 

 extend over the outer surface of these mai'gins, rendering 

 it rough even when the mouth is closed, the inner sur- 

 face, on the other hand, being smooth. Similar teeth 

 are set on the long palatine, the entopterygoid, and the 

 epibranchial bones, the upper and lower pharyngeals, 

 and the whole series of the cojiular parts of the hyoid 



"16 cm., according lo Johnson, assuming tbat it is tlii.s species wliicb be bas described. 



* Tbeir longitudinal diameter measures in adult specimens about 6' o % of tbe Icugtb of tlie body, 23 — 26 °i of tbe entire lengtli 

 of tbe bead, and 37 — 39';'2 % of tbe postorbital length of tbe head. 



